


A Mental Health Day

by SophiaHawkins



Category: Animaniacs
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:49:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28812210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophiaHawkins/pseuds/SophiaHawkins
Summary: Dr. Scratchansniff had the weekend off work and away from the Warners...or so he thought.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 47





	A Mental Health Day

**Author's Note:**

> So a little bit about this story before we begin. I didn't grow up watching Animaniacs, I only recently started watching it a few weeks ago and fell in love with it immediately. Normally I don't jump into writing a story for a fandom this quickly but I was hit very early on with a few ideas I wanted to try and am starting with this one. This was heavily inspired by "The Monkey Song", I hope you all enjoy it. Please read and review!

A Mental Health Day

Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff heard his alarm clock going off, and blindly reached over and shut it off before he ever picked up his glasses and opened his eyes. It was the weekend, it was also his day off work from the studio and he planned to just stay home and take it easy, starting with a shower and shave and then onto breakfast. He wasn't sure if he'd had a dream just before he woke up or not, but as he started to come around he found himself absently singing, "Don't know vhat to say, da monkeys won't do", and carried it on a few bars as he got out of bed, shed his pajamas and headed into the bathroom to get his day started. The door shut behind him and he was still absentmindedly humming that song, then suddenly a few seconds later it was replaced with a high pitched almost girlish shriek, followed by the sound of somebody literally hitting the ceiling, followed immediately after by a bunch of yelling that was so manic it almost bordered on complete and total gibberish, finally summed up by the doctor screaming in plain English "Get out-get out-GET OOOOUUTTT!"

The bathroom door flew open and the Warners promptly scurried out the door in a fashion that said they were rushing, but _not_ due to anything the doctor had said or done, merely because it suited them. A few seconds later, Dr. Scratchansniff stepped out of the bathroom wearing a towel as he demanded to know, "Vhat are you _doing in my_ home!?"

"We just thought we'd pay you a little visit, Scratchy," Yakko offered as if it was somehow the most normal thing in the world.

"How did you get _in_ here?" the doctor suddenly thought to ask.

"What broken window?" Wakko asked as if he'd been asked about the subject.

"Did you miss us?" Dot asked with a big grin on her face and her eyes almost completely squeezed shut to accommodate the unsettling smile.

" _Vhy_ are you here?" Dr. Scratchansniff wanted to know as he scratched his head.

"It's your day off," Dot said as if that explained something.

"I know dat, I know how to read za calendar," Otto replied, "but you still haven't explained vhy you are here."

"To keep you company," Wakko answered simply.

"...Vhat?" the doctor did a double take, definitely not expecting that and didn't even know how to process that.

"It's not fair you have to wait two whole days to see us again," Dot said, "So we came to see you instead."

The psychiatrist blankly stared at them for a moment through his thick glasses that already made it impossible to see his eyes, and he finally asked them, "Vhy?"

Yakko shrugged dismissively, "Something to do."

"Somewhere to go," Dot added.

"Someone to drive crazy," Wakko added, earning him a less than subtle foot stomping from Dot who pulled it off without moving a muscle in her grinning face. "Ow! What'd I say?"

Dr. Scratchansniff pondered over this for a moment before he told the Warners, "I appreciate you tree paying me a visit but you cannot stay here."

"Why not?" the three of them asked in perfect unison with pronounced sad eyes and slumped backs.

"For starters, it is unprofessional," the doctor answered, "You are my patients."

"I lost all my patience years ago," Wakko said as he twiddled his thumbs together, "I don't wait for anything, I eat waffles straight out of the freezer."

"For another," Otto continued as if he hadn't heard that, "The three of you are supposed to be...back in za vater tower!"

"As far as everybody knows, we are," Yakko pointed out. "They don't see us all day, they think we're up there behaving ourselves."

"Red flag number one," Dot added.

"Aaannd then we'll just slip back in tonight after everybody leaves, and first thing tomorrow we'll be right back to status quo," Yakko told the doctor, "Nobody will be the wiser. Whadda ya say, Scratchy? Do we have a deal?"

Dr. Scratchansniff stood there for a couple minutes with his arms folded against his chest, his fingers drumming against his arm as he thought about it.

"You came all ze way here just to see me?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Why not? Who else we gonna visit?" Yakko asked nonchalantly.

"Hmmmmm..." the psychiatrist scratched his head for a minute before responding, "Alright, alright, you can stay, but first I must shower and shave."

"No problemo, Scratchy."

As the doctor turned and headed back into the bathroom, it escaped his attention that the three Warners also followed him back into the room, until after he'd shut the door, which resulted in him screaming at them again to, "Get out, get out, out-out-OUT!"

The door flew open again and the three of them ran back out to the living room, and stood at attention as Dr. Scratchansniff followed them out and marched up and down the room as he told them, "The three of you cannot follow me into de bathroom!"

"We just did," Dot pointed out.

"No, no, no," he shook his head, "That is not vhat I meant."

"Would you quit talking in riddles then?" Wakko asked, annoyed.

"You can't be in de bathroom vhile I'm taking a shower," Dr. Scratchansniff told them.

"Don't worry, you wouldn't bother us," Dot said.

"Besides, it's not like the viewers are gonna see anything," Yakko added, "Our G-rating should remain intact."

"You tree stay _out here_!" he told them, "And I vill be out soon, but until I am, none of you may enter the bathroom. Are ve clear?"

"Crystal," Dot answered.

"Emerald," Wakko added.

"I like gold myself," Yakko added, "and cash."

"Just stay put!" Dr. Scratchansniff told them, and turned around and marched back to the bathroom and slammed the door.

"Oh darn," Dot said, "I left my little pet in there."

A couple seconds later they heard the muffled sound of a creature's deafening growl, and the high pitched screams of Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff.

"He said nobody could go in while he's in there," Yakko pointed out as he crossed one foot over the other.

A few more screams were heard, followed by a frantic banging on the door, then the doorknob rattling, and the doctor rushed out still in his towel and announced, "Alvight, whoever owns dat hideous creature can go in and _get it out_!"

"Boy you're picky," Dot said as she walked past the guys, and said mockingly, "Stay out here, go in there, get out there, come in here, why don't you make up your mind?"

"I don't know why you even invited us," Wakko said snidely.

"But, I did _not_ invite you," the doctor pointed out as he scratched his head.

"Oh sure," Yakko said dryly, "squabble over the petty details."

"You wait," Wakko said, "next he'll be having a fit over the broken window."

" _Vhat_ broken vindow, Vakko?" Dr. Scratchansniff inquired as he crouched down to Wakko's height.

Wakko turned towards the doctor with a big grin and merely responded, "Well it's been fun, gotta go!"

* * *

The night before-

It wasn't all that often the water tower was quiet, but it was that night, quiet, except for the sound of Dot sighing as she sat staring out the window into the night sky with a blank look on her face. This did not go unnoticed by her brothers, though it took a few minutes for them to actually catch on.

"Uh...Yakko," Wakko said quietly, cautiously.

"Yeah?" the oldest Warner replied in an equally quiet tone.

Wakko looked over towards Dot and asked Yakko, "Is this a good quiet, or a bad quiet?"

"Ehhh, too soon to tell, you hang back and get ready to batten down the hatches," Yakko told him as he took the initiative to step forward.

"10-4."

Yakko stepped over towards the window and asked his sister, "What's up, Dot?"

The youngest Warner let out a louder and longer sigh, didn't turn away from the window, didn't move towards him at all as she answered in a despondent voice, "Just pondering a life of complete and utter loneliness, no friends, no family, no one to care about, no one's company to keep, alone every day and unwanted."

The Warner brothers looked at each other concernedly, this did _not_ sound like the Dot they knew.

"What're you talking about?" Yakko asked, completely clueless, "you're not alone, you've got us."

In one quick move Dot spun around and was facing them as she sniped, "Oh get _real_ , I wasn't talking about me!"

"And the world takes a collective sigh of relief," Wakko commented as he stuck his tongue out of his mouth sideways and twirled a finger against the side of his head.

"So who _were_ you talking about?" Yakko asked.

"Dr. Scratchansniff," Dot answered.

That had the two brothers looking at each other in puzzlement as well.

"What do you mean?" Yakko asked.

"Well, think about it, he has nobody," Dot shook her head, "The highlight of his day _has_ to be when he gets to see us. We're fun!"

"Can't argue with that one," Wakko agreed. "We are the most interesting people I know."

"Hmmm," Yakko pored over it a minute and told his sister, "You might be onto something there, old Scratchy's not as stiff as he used to be when he first saw us."

"His hair never grew back though," Wakko added. "I wonder why that is?"

"And now he won't be back until Monday, that's like forever," Dot said, "we ought to go pay him a visit this weekend and surprise him."

"Hmmmm," Yakko squinted one eye shut and let the other roll around in his head as he thought about it, "Ahhhhhhh," he said dryly as he opened his mouth, "That's a great idea, ol' Scratchy will never even see it coming."

"Hooray, we're gonna be house guests," Wakko said.

"He shouldn't mind, we're all housebroken," Yakko commented.

"Yeah," Wakko added, "I can break a house in no time flat, especially with a mallet."

Dot looked to an imaginary 4th wall and said, "Hey, even p-sychiatrists need to see p-sychiatrists, right?" and offered a huge ingratiating smile.

* * *

That night-

Dot clasped her hands together and leaned back crooning, "Awww, isn't he the cutest little thing?"

"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Wakko added as he stood beside her.

Yakko towered over both of them and threw in his own two cents, "They're so adorable when they finally go to sleep."

The three Warners stood beside Dr. Scratchansniff's bed and watched the psychiatrist as he slept on his side hugging a teddy bear and clutching a blanket while sucking on his thumb in his sleep. The time on the digital clock on the nightstand said 8:30 P.M.

Yakko sighed contentedly and said, "It's a beautiful thing for the medical industry when one of their own can fall asleep _this_ way instead of taking their own tranquilizers." He looked at his younger siblings and announced, "Looks like our work here is done." In a hushed voice he gestured towards the door and added, "Let us be on our way."

"Right," Dot whispered as they crept out on tiptoes and slipped out the front door.

Wakko brought up the rear, and just before he stepped outside to join the others, he turned around and waved as he called to the bedroom, "SEE YOU MONDAY, DOCTOR!" and ran out the door slamming it behind him.

The door jolted Dr. Scratchansniff awake briefly, just enough to jerk a surprised yelp out of him, he turned over to sit up and called out confusedly, "Mommy?" Then a few seconds later, passed out again sucking his thumb and clutching the teddy bear and blanket.

* * *

The Warners closed the door on the water tower as they returned home and yawned as they got ready for bed.

"That was a great idea you had, Dot," Yakko said, "we'll have to do it again sometime."

"We could visit the doctor every week," Wakko suggested. "Or better, we could follow him home every single night!"

"Yeah, who knows?" Dot asked, "maybe he's got some chest hairs he needs to rip out too," and gave a small te-he-he giggle.

"Come on guys, we gotta get some sleep if we're going to give Ralph the workout of his life tomorrow chasing us," Yakko said.

Dot climbed halfway up the ladder to her bed and stopped and asked him, "Hey Yakko, do you think Dr. Scratchansniff will ever figure it out?"

"What?" Yakko asked nonchalantly, "That driving him insane is the way we show our love, and there's a very very very very very fine line between what we do to him and what we do to everybody else?"

"Uh huh," Dot nodded.

Yakko shrugged, "Who knows? He's supposed to be a smart guy, he's bound to put it together one of these days."

"I hope he doesn't get committed before then," Dot said as she climbed up to her bunk, "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight," Yakko replied, then blew a kiss and added, "Goodnight everybody."


End file.
